I recently had an experience that, while in no way surprising, was nonetheless almost frightening in its clarity.
Our refrigerator is on the verge of giving up the ghost. Consequently, I looked around for alternatives—consulting Google Gemini and conducting some research using Edge. It turned out that three specific models—from Bosch, Samsung, and LG—were viable candidates, with Coolblue appearing to be the retailer of choice. That evening, my wife opened Facebook (she has only herself to blame!) and saw advertisements for those exact four brands. She had not Googled anything whatsoever related to refrigerators, nor had I sent her a single link on the subject.
I am not naive, so this didn’t come as a shock to me. It simply served to bring home—once again, with crystal clarity—just how thoroughly contaminated the entire internet has become.
@thilodus Your story reminded me of something that happened to me last summer.
I had some car trouble- the check engine sign came on. I’m not a mechanic, so I never google car stuff because I don’t know anything about cars. Instead, I called my uncle who is a GREAT mechanic & he happens to specialize in German cars.
He told me to drive on over & he’d plug it in to the computer & we’d see what the problem is. We figured out it was some sensor BUT he said that this sensor was a strictly OEM part- meaning that this sensor is only made by VW & there are no aftermarket options, so I would have to go to the dealer and get it from them. He could install it, but he’s has no option of getting it.
OK. Fair enough. I look up the nearest VW dealership in my neighborhood via GOOGLE.
I call the dealership in my neighborhood. Give my VIN, tell them what I need. They quote me a price, tell me they can order it. It’s all set.
Well, then the fun part started. The minute I opened FB, I have VW ads for new cars. It seemed that all I saw was car related. VW, Audi - no American or Japanese cars, just German.
The granularity and depth of surveillance on the web is remarkable. Beyond that, all of this ‘information’ is no doubt stored forever on server farms - not particularly green. On the surface it seems all about money and what they can sell you easily and seamlessly. Somehow I think it likely goes a lot deeper than that.
Purposely I will not buy from any ad or web delivered purchase opportunity. These stand out, and serve the exact opposite purpose for which they were intended. It must be that a lot of people do purchase in reaction to these superficial sales efforts. No doubt an indication of the advancement of society……
I talked to my husband about the Kompakt when I got it. He starting seeing g ads on FB for it. He has zero interest in minimalist phones.
My sister swears she only had thoughts of a certain product and never searched or talked to anyone about it, and she started seeing ads on those products.
Best to talk in private - but now that’s not easy, phones, microphones, cameras are everywhere! Satellites too. good luck, watch for drones - some are as small as bugs, these are weird times.
I have to admit, I feel a bit foolish right now. I really could have figured it out myself—that my wife and I, naturally, use the same Wi-Fi. So, when I conduct in-depth research on a topic, I generate digital footprints linked to my IP address. If my wife then uses that same IP, we are identified as a single household, and those footprints are, in a sense, passed along. “Device graphing” is the keyword here. To be perfectly honest: I still find it creepy and intrusive.
This is an old article & Amazon described the incident as an “isolated case” and put the mistake down to human error- but I don’t know. I think this is happening more than you think. Thank goodness for the OFFLINE+ switch LOL